Legal News for UK Co-ops and Mutuals

This is a blog where brief information about developments in UK Co-op and mutual law will be reported. Readers of this blog will also find Linda Barlow's Co-operatives UK Blog at http://www.uk.coop/blogs/linda.barlow helpful. For an network of academics working on co-ops, mutuals and social enterprises visit http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/r-comuse/2012/09/welcome-to-r-comuse/

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Draft Co-op Law Consolidation Bill by March 2013......?

I have just spotted that in its Business Plan for 2012-2013 (at page 11) The Law Commission states that an aim in its consolidation programme is:
"To consolidate the legislation about co-operative and public (sic) benefit societies (previously known as industrial and provident societies)"

The milestone for this is to "Provide a draft Co-operative and Public (sic) Benefit Societies Bill to HMT by March 2013".

It is encouraging to have a publicly announced date for the provision of a draft Bill to HM Treasury. A shame that the long hallowed "community benefit" (bencom) label for one type of society became "public benefit" in this brief entry in a Business Plan. A slip of the word processor perhaps?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Hurry Hurry Hurry ! Co-op Law Seminar Manchester 31st October 2012

Registration is still open for this (relatively) exciting Seminar on European Co-operative Law which is part of Co-operatives United. It covers a range of European systems, EU developments and a comparison with South American developments. Places are filling up fast. Registration is free of charge and open to anyone interested who emails isn@le.ac.uk and asks to be registered for this Seminar but the number of places is limited.

Why must a Registered Society be a Co-op or Bencom?

That stalwart co-operator, formerly of Shared Interest, Mark Hayes, contacted me today with a query about how the statutory requirements (bona fide co-operative or bencom) for the registration of an industrial and provident (aka co-operative and community benefit) society came about.

That caused me to dig out an old paper of mine from 2001 which discussed the history and referred to some of the sources on that one. The key vital definition was a pragmatic addition, made only in 1939, to a law already 80 plus years old. This was done to deal with the use of societies for investment frauds because they were not subject to the same prospectus disclosure requirements as companies when issuing shares.

Here's the article in the interests of dissemination to interested lawyers and co-operators. Some of the footnotes lead in to fuller materials e.g. Hansard and key Government reports that led to the change. Sorry about the quality of the document but I had to scan it in as the Journal has not yet gone that far back with its archiving.